The Revolving Doors Academy: Lived experience, leadership and learning
The Revolving Doors Academy enables our members to build the practical skills, confidence, and boundaries needed to become impactful Revolving Doors member leaders. So far, 22 Revolving Doors members have successfully graduated from our Academy over the last year.
Co-produced by people with lived experience for people with lived experience, our Academy harnesses the power of lived experience to change the justice system and end the revolving door.
What’s involved?
The Changemakers course for members has 12 modules delivered over six weeks, both online and in-person. Each week focuses on building essential skills for lived experience leadership from self-management to public speaking, media skills, strategic thinking and critical reflection and critical reflection.
The programme empowers members to engage safely and effectively in their roles, while developing their voice, influence and wellbeing along the way. The Academy is also a space where members can be coached though anxieties such as imposter syndrome to build their confidence and self-worth.
The Academy is more than a training programme; it’s a platform for breaking down barriers between professionals and lived experience, between policy and reality. It’s about challenging the idea that you need a certain degree, accent or background to have a seat at the table.
Lived experience is crucial to shaping the system. The Academy is our way of putting that into practice, not as a token gesture, but as a core part of how we work at Revolving Doors, and this is just the beginning.
What’s next?
The latest course has taught us so much and we’re already looking ahead, developing the Academy further, exploring new partnerships, and building a sustainable model that continues to centre our lived experience membership.
This Autumn we will be running our second round of the 2025 Changemakers course, with an extra two topics from external organisations to bring us up to 14 modules within the six-week period.
Academy Coordinator Natalia felt it was important to bring in outside partners with expertise in their fields to co-produce a module with our lived experience peer trainers, bringing an extra layer of specialised training opportunities for our members.
She says:
“As Academy Coordinator, it’s been my privilege to work alongside our incredible peer trainers and staff team. To our amazing peer trainers: your insight, encouragement and leadership made all the difference to building the Academy and co-producing the change makers course. To the Revolving Doors team behind the scenes: thank you for making this vision a reality.
And to every single member who took part: congratulations. You are the reason this Academy exists, and we are so proud of everything you’ve achieved and showing the world what lived experience leadership really looks like.”
